


Happiness is the Little Things

by MicoolandVav



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Kid!Stiles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 02:37:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1802284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MicoolandVav/pseuds/MicoolandVav
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek has a very well-kept secret that Stiles one day squirms his way into.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Well-Kept Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Happy graduation to my lovely Megan! I know it's like, a month late, but I finished it! <3 I hope you enjoy it!

The first time Derek was caught in his personal moments, he’d glared at the nuisance until he went away, returning to his happy place without a word. The incident was never brought up in Derek’s later encounters with Stiles, though the younger man did look at him with an odd expression the next time they were around each other.   
Derek Hale had only ever had one happy place, and for a long while it had been gone due to the fire. When Derek found himself with spare change one day, he’d found that happy place once again in the convenience store comic book shelf fifteen minutes from his house. Derek had bought a small box, which as time progressed had become two, and then four, and then eventually sat comfortably at six. These six boxes were stacked in a cleaned corner of his home, with a comfortable wooden chair occupying the empty space beside the stack. A knit throw was neatly folded over the back of the chair and the room itself was tucked away upstairs, where none of the pack or their friends ever ventured in the house. Of course, the ever so meddlesome Stiles had ventured there one day, to interrupt Derek’s fifth reading of that particular comic of Captain America.   
Some months later, in the middle of December, Derek was nestled comfortably in his happy place, the throw around his shoulders and his favourite comic in his hands. He lost himself during these stolen hours, where he didn’t have Erica, Boyd or Isaac breathing down his neck or the ever-annoying Scott and Stiles poking their heads around in his business.   
Of course, as Derek smiled at the familiar rustle of turning pages, a soft chuckle interrupted Derek’s reading. The harrowed man’s eyes shot up to the door way, where he narrowed his eyes at the sight of Stiles leaning against his door.  
“I thought I’d find you here. Dirty little secret and all.” He smirked at Derek, who bared his teeth at him.   
Stiles’ hands went up in a sign of peace, “I was just... wondering if I could join you.” Stiles’ demeanor shifted considerably, and as his smirk turned to a timid smile Derek’s heart softened to the younger man. He nodded.  
“If you crumple the pages, I kill you.” He warned, as Stiles settled himself on the floor by Derek’s chair.   
Stiles nodded, reaching for the nearest comic.  
-  
“No way! Mjolnir isn’t infinitely heavy,” Derek told Stiles firmly, “It’s immovable. Like, the centre of the universe or something like that. If you read through all of them, you’d see multiple examples of why Mjolnir isn’t heavy!”   
Stiles had begun laughing at some point during Derek’s rant against Stiles’ ignorant, fun-poking comment. Derek hadn’t realized that he’d been trying to provoke Derek, so the man shut his mouth and glared at Stiles’ smug expression.   
Eventually, Derek laughed along, realizing that there was no going back from his nerdy outburst against Stiles.   
And so began a nerdy tradition to sate the loneliness in both their hearts.


	2. Mommy's Lovely Locks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles gets the brilliant idea to chop his hair off for his mom, and in turn surprises Sheriff Stilinski.

When Stiles had stood in the bathroom door, watching his mom cry with a handful of her hair cradled to her chest, he had an idea. So, a young Stiles waited until his mother was gone and took his father’s razor to those soft baby locks of his. When his father returned home to find Stiles’ hair patchy and all over the floor, he sighed loudly and made a big show of shaving the rest of Stiles’ head clean.   
When they’d finished, Stiles helped his dad clean the bathroom sink and floor, and they went out for ice cream.   
“Why’d you want to shave your hair, Stiles?” The man asked while Stiles devoured his chocolate ice cream. His eyes were bright, but all too serious for a child not even ten.  
“I saw mommy crying because she was losing her hair.” He said matter-of-factly, “I wanted to show her that she’s not alone and that she’s still beautiful just like I’m still handsome.” He told his dad, smiling brightly at the man.  
Stiles’ father was silent, watching his son with admiration. The Sheriff never could have thought to do something like that for his wife. He’d been so focused on helping her that he hadn’t seen all of the obvious suffering she’d been going through. He hadn’t noticed the small things.  
Yet, his child made his mother laugh and then cry when he took him home that night. He looked on with a sad smile when she embraced Stiles and told him she loved him through her tears. And later that night when she asked him to shave her head, he agreed and did so silently, watching her silent tears streak her cheek.   
 


	3. The Pain Will Numb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles' father see's too much of his wife in his son, and sometimes Stiles leaves to make his healing process simpler.

It was always the same time of year that Stiles would go to Scott’s house, and Scott would never question it when the awkward, distracted teenager would sleep in his chair and sullenly say nothing – a characteristic quite odd of the hyper-active boy. When a couple of days had passed, Stiles would wordlessly go back home.   
It didn’t take Scott long to figure out that it occurred every year on the anniversary of Stiles’ mother’s death. When he’d figured it out, Scott always did little things to make sure that Stiles felt comforted during the night he’d spend at Scott’s. Scott would play video games with Stiles and order pizza and he’d wait up until his friend passed out in a happy sleep induced by food and gaming before Scott would go to sleep himself.   
Usually Stiles was gone the next morning when Scott woke up, on the off chance that Stiles was still there, Scott would ask his mom for breakfast and she’d cook them breakfast before sending them off to school with a gentle, understanding smile. As they grew older, Scott was increasingly grateful for his mother’s understanding. Eventually, when she thought he was old enough, she explained to him that Stiles’ father saw a lot of his mother in him, and it was increasingly difficult for the Sheriff to be around his son on the anniversary of his wife’s death.   
One year, Stiles didn’t show up at Scott’s house as usual. Once Scott had gotten worried enough, he went to Stiles’ house to check on him, only to find Stiles and the Sheriff sitting on the couch together watching a movie. They were smiling and laughing, eating pizza. When Scott returned home to tell his mom what he’d found, she just smiled and said she’d knew they would get passed it eventually.  
“Pain becomes numb with time, Scott. It never goes away, but it numbs. Stiles’ father’s pain is numb enough that he can appreciate that he has his son still.” She had told him, patting him on the shoulder as she left him standing in the kitchen.


End file.
